At Least 58 Good Wishes on Year 58

Readers Note:  Birthday Girl blogging today. Darrell on the assist.

Brain cancer is...

...celebrating Andi's actual birthday.

You know me, Friends.  I cry easily and freely.  It's pretty hard not to tear up with gratitude for all the love in our lives today. 

When I think about the safety net you built under us with Darrell's diagnosis, I didn't know in those early days just how many strands that net had, or how strong or long each strand was.  We have come to rely on your net through every tough turn, and today, it's a sparkly, shiny, happy birthday-singing net. 

Thank you for the love.  There is nothing more important in this world to us than the power of people lifting each other up. 

This day has been filled with bitmojis, animal videos (from Summer: a swimming muskrat.  My very own), texts, phone and facetime calls, emails, and (above) park parties. 

More details.  Please let me share:

• Darrell was the first Happy Birthday song...on his trumpet.  That's very special to me, particularly because he only plays on Christmas otherwise. And only with Curt.
  
• Darrell also gave me gifts that he picked out carefully, like a real German beer stein (for my coffee?) and the perfect jeans skirt.
• Christine and family shared this poster for our Starbucks/Park Party/walk
  
  

• Kristine and Keiva joined the park party with several awesome versions of their own birthday song.  You see their dramatic mother/daughter pose in the top, distanced pic.
• I also talked with all my kids early today.  And granddaughter Nova B checked in too.  She seems less impressed than others with the birthday news. Maybe she understands the whole "month-long celebration" thing.
  

• After lunch I ate my whole free Islands Kona Pie...by myself...on purpose.

• Faculty are mostly not currently allowed on campus, for safety.  Today we were able to go to the CSUF library to pick up some tech equipment for the impending semester. (More birthday!  A Mi Fi, Ipad, Ipencil, and phone stand! Wheee!)  I speak for the teachers and students out there when I say it felt so good to just stand on the soil of a college campus! Darrell says sitting on a campus felt great too.

• We also went on a Target date, which is where we splurge.  Today for my birthday I bought a monster truck set for Nova.  Raucous fun ahead at GPops and GMama's Baby Girl!

• The good times just kept rolling.  Here's my friend of nearly 25 years, adventure girl partner, Denise, with yet another bouquet of beautiful flowers.  Denise and I raised our kids together, and she raised our spirits so many times after Darrell's diagnosis with bouquets like this.
  

Nieces, nephews, sisters, kids, grandkid, parents, siblings, aunts, surrogate kid, friends, friends, and more friends...What a day.

People lifting people up.   Life and love in the days of Covid.  Thank you.

Finally, we have lots of cards.  We know how much effort it takes to get a card someplace on time.  Thank you for that!  However, we want to ration our cards to make it through the entire month.  Hope that's okay by the card givers.  Speaking of making it to the end of the month:  Hope we can keep up the birthday stamina for another 28 days.  We'd better go to bed.

Good Birthday Night, Team D!

All our love to you!

Today's Bloom

Never has a CSUF campus flower appeared more beautiful.